Media Consolidation and Cuts

In response to the Boston Business Journal Boston Globe eyes consolidation; Herald steps up plans to move the following comment was made:

John Gatti Jr. June 24, 2008 9:56PM EST

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The print media is in decline, since the younger generation does not seem to read newspapers.

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As the owner of the Boston Herald has stated, today's readers do not want to pay for the news.

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The Internet, with its bloggers and instantness, is leaving the print media behind and in a state of turmoil, with few, if any, solutions.

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What we see in Massachusetts is most discouraging, with the massive layoffs of our institution newspapers with The Globe, The Herald, and even The Worcester Telegram and the Springfield newspapers leading the charge of newsroom layoffs and employee buyouts. Recently, we learned the Boston Globe and Worcester Telegram and Gazette, purchased in recent years by the New York Times Co. for $1.4 billion, now has an estimated worth of a little more than $600 million — and almost a value loss of $800 million. We see other newspapers, suffering circulation and advertising droughts, being sold or suffering similar fates.

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A calamity is to see journalism as a profession in a massive decline, with students seeking other professions and seasoned reporters leaving the vocation because of diminished job opportunities.

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Adam Reilly, media monitor guru for The Boston Phoenix, was on point when he said what concerns us is the future of the print media and its victimization by the Internet and cable TV that provide so many no-waiting alternatives, 24/7.

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The corporatization of the print and broadcast media by the "bean counters," only concerned with squeezing the bottom line for quarterly profits to satisfy carnivorous high level corporate officers, bankers and shareholders, is posing a serious threat to our system of a free press and its career journalists.

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When families like the Taylors of The Globe or the Stoddards of The Worcester Telegram owned the newspapers, dips in profits did not matter. Additionally, they lived locally and were involved with the economic and general well being of their respective communities. Many did not like their paternalistic ways and criticized the Taylor family Globe's liberalism and Mr. Stoddard's far right-wing union demonizing philosophy. However, for the most part, reporters, editorial writers and columnists enjoyed a career for life with a career ladder and job security for their families enabling them to focus on reporting with slight interference, if any.

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That has changed with the corporatization. These newsroom journalists are now nothing more than commodities enjoying no security from paycheck to paycheck. This is resulting in those reporting doing the unthinkable in years past: tuning resumes on an hourly basis and diminishing loyalty to management because of fearing being "pink slipped" without notice. The profession for journalists with its unwritten code of ethics is sinking under this disease.

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Mr. Reilly strikes a nerve when he discusses The Globe's and The Telegram's out-of-town New York ownership, which would be analogous to the Yankees owning the Red Sox and treating the Sox like a starving subsidiary farm club and bleeding its lifeblood. This is what we are observing by the continuous downsizing, outsourcing and use of independent correspondents.

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I am fearful of this continuous trend and most concerned of what will be happening to our press freedoms — especially with what is happening to a new lack of investigative reporting by print newspapers. Crusading reporting for the common good against special interests will be a relic of the past.

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John Gatti Jr.
113 Briarwood Avenue
Southbridge, MA 01550
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Each day brings new media cuts, further diminishing our access to quality news and investigative reporting.